Full exerpts, links up now at
http://www.zianet.com/insightanalyticalTomorrow at Buzzflash.com
WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 8, 2004
1//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--SON GIVES CLUES TO AL-QAEDA LAIRS(A son of Osama bin Laden's deputy has given crucial information on the location of al-Qaeda leaders after being captured by Pakistani forces near the Afghanistan border, intelligence officials in Islamabad say. Ayman al-Zawahiri's son, Khalid, was seized with 20 other suspected foreign militants in a raid in the remote South Waziristan area 10 days ago, the officials told London's The Sunday Telegraph. His information has helped direct Pakistani and US forces in their drive to capture bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda figures believed to be in the area…More than 1600 US troops, including special forces units, are at Salerno base, near Khost in eastern Afghanistan, ready for a spring offensive to capture the terrorist mastermind.)
2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--BLAME GAME AND THE BA’ATHISTS (The US takes the line that al-Qaeda has chosen Iraq as its new "battleground" to take on US interests. However, such accusations might be misguided...Individuals belonging to bin Laden's International Islamic Front - a loose umbrella network for terrorist networks dedicated to jihad against America - are definitely present in Iraq, but as yet there is no definite proof of full-blown al-Qaeda operations in Iraq…In May last year, the US announced that the Ba'ath Party was officially dissolved. But a stroke of a pen cannot wipe out an institution that has roots deep in society forged over many decades. On June 30 the US hands over sovereignty to Iraq. It could be that the Ba'athists have not rolled over just yet.)
3//The Jordan Times, Jordan--SYRIAN BAATH PARTY CELEBRATES ALONE (Syria on Monday marks the 41st anniversary of the rise to power of its Baathists, amid growing questions about the ruling party's role and impatience with the slow pace of reforms. “The fall of the Iraqi Baath has undoubtedly affected its Syrian twin which now finds itself alone amid a hostile environment since the spring 2003 US intervention and with an Arab world overtaken by liberalism,” a Western diplomat said in Damascus. The latent discontent of many Syrians seems to go hand in hand with the international pressures which have weakened the regime.)
4//The Independent, UK--SCIENTIST ‘GAGGED’ BY NO. 10 AFTER WARNING OF GLOBAL WARMING THREAT (Downing Street tried to muzzle the Government's top scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more serious threat than international terrorism.Ivan Rogers, Mr Blair's principal private secretary, told Sir David King, the Prime Minister's chief scientist, to limit his contact with the media after he made outspoken comments about President George Bush's policy on climate change. In January, Sir David wrote a scathing article in the American journal Science attacking Washington for failing to take climate change seriously. "In my view, climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism," he wrote.)
5//Inter Press Service, Italy--INDIA, BRAZIL, SOUTH AFRICA READY TO LEAD GLOBAL SOUTH (India, Brazil and South Africa, representing three major democracies in three different corners of the globe, emerged confident in leading South-South cooperation at a two-day meeting of their foreign ministers that ended here Friday. The new confidence was enshrined in a plan of action adopted by these countries and in the 'New Delhi Agenda for Cooperation' that will see them working together, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said at a joint press conference after the first ministerial meeting of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Forum. ''This is a group to spread goodwill and the message of peace -- we are not against anyone,'' Amorim added, seeking to allay apprehensions that the rest of the world may have of the coming together of three economies physically separated by vast expanses of deep ocean.)
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